Robert Busbee, a defense attorney whose independent, private practice is based in Statesboro, has announced his candidacy for district attorney in the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit.
The candidate qualifying period doesn't open until March 4, and it ends
March 8. But in an emailed release to media organizations Feb. 7, Busbee stated that he will challenge incumbent District Attorney Daphne Totten in the May 21 Republican primary. The Statesboro Herald then followed up with a phone call to Busbee.
Of course, one basic question is why he would run for district attorney and potentially switch from the defense side to become chief prosecutor.
"I've just been watching what's going on in that office, you know, the prosecuting people who shouldn't be prosecuted, not getting convictions against people that need to be prosecuted, and then just the waste of money, between transporting inmates we don't do anything with, needlessly prolonging cases, and then holding people in jail for an extended period of time while their case drags on needlessly," Busbee said.
The Ogeechee Judicial Circuit encompasses Bulloch, Effingham, Jenkins and Screven counties, and the district attorney is chief prosecutor for primarily felony cases in the Superior Courts of the four counties. Totten employs about 10 assistant district attorneys and several full-time investigators.
Busbee owns Busbee Law Group LLC, headquartered on East Grady Street.
Busbee's background
Now 41, he was a Republican primary candidate once before, but for a different office. Back in 2018 he challenged then-Rep. Jan Tankersley for the Republican nomination for the state House seat in District 160. Tankersley won the primary and was re-elected, representing the district until she retired at the end of 2022 and was succeeded by current Rep. Lehman Franklin III, who ran unopposed.
A native of Jesup, Busbee first arrived in Statesboro as a Georgia Southern University student. Majoring in political science, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2009. He then went to the Georgia State University College of Law in Atlanta. He interned briefly with a law firm in Atlanta, but after receiving his law degree in 2012, Busbee moved back to Statesboro that year and started his law practice here in 2014.
"I got out of law school, and Statesboro felt like home," he said. "Then, my wife went to Georgia Southern as well and we met."
Robert Busbee and Erika Jordan Busbee have been married since November 2016 and now have two children, ages 5 and 1.
In his legal practice Jordan previously did "a little of everything," before deciding to focus on criminal defense and family law work. He has now left family law to specialize further in criminal defense, he said.
Busbee represents clients mainly in the state and superior courts of the Ogeechee Circuit and surrounding counties. He occasionally takes a case into federal court, having been admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. He is a member of GACDL, the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Busbee noted that he has won acquittal for clients in several trials in counties of the Ogeechee Circuit and neighboring Atlantic Circuit in the past several years. He averages about one case going to jury trial each year, he told the Statesboro Herald.
In August 2020, on behalf of five clients then awaiting trial in Bulloch County Superior Court, Busbee filed a challenge to the repeatedly extended, statewide COVID-19 emergency suspension of jury proceedings by the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. It was March 2021 before the chief justice allowed jury trials to resume statewide, after some local provisions had been made for bond hearings and other proceedings.
From the release
Busbee's Feb. 7 release also identified the pace of cases going to trial as an issue for his campaign for district attorney. His quoted comments in the release consisted mainly of direct and implied criticism of Totten.
"Our district attorney is responsible for a growing number of lost cases, wasted money and poorly chosen cases to prosecute," Busbee asserted in the release. "We need to bring more accountability and transparency to the office, and we have to do a better job of keeping our community safe. I will change the way the office is run to ensure all cases are prosecuted quickly and effectively.
"Too much taxpayer money is being wasted and too many victims are not seeing justice," he continued. "We deserve a district attorney who will treat this office as a full-time job and will simply do a better job of prosecuting cases."